Sensors are commonly used in a variety of different environments for monitoring diverse parameters such as, for example, temperature, pressure, and humidity. Because the sensors are constantly monitoring, they need to be periodically recalibrated and reprogrammed. In a large network of sensors containing hundreds of individual sensors that may be located in harsh and noisy environments and spread throughout a vast geography, it becomes impractical to manually recalibrate and reprogram each individual sensor. Additionally, because the sensors may be located in harsh and noisy environments and may be connected through a wireless radio communications link, the communication method must be robust in order to avoid loss or corruption of the sensor data.
Further, each sensor is typically powered by a battery and therefore has limited energy supply and operational capabilities. Therefore, the method of recalibrating or reprogramming used must be energy efficient and use as few cycles of data transmissions as possible.